Tuesday, September 02, 2008

At 21, Christel Khalil has spent most of her acting career as Lily Winters on “The Young and the Restless.” When she left the role in 2005, it surprised a lot of her fans. Wise beyond her years, Christel knew that she needed the break.

“I left because of stress,” Christel tells me. “I was so young; I wasn’t able to handle it. I needed the break -- I needed the chance to relax and do what I wanted. Besides doing a guest spot on ‘Malcolm in the Middle,’ I wasn’t really doing anything.”

In the meantime, Davetta Sherwood took over the role, but the powers that be at “Y&R” really wanted Christel back. “They asked me to come back a few times, but I said no. After about a year, they asked again. I’d had a year off; I felt rested and ready to go back. Plus, I was really missing everyone.”

The character of Lily Winters is like a breath of fresh air in the every-man-for-himself world of soap operas. She has morals and compassion. Even though she loves Cane, she knows that the right thing for him to do is be there for Chloe and the baby they have together (or so Chloe has made everyone think).

“I like that Lily has morals and values. She’s not out to hurt anyone. Even through this whole Chloe thing, she finds a way to relate and have compassion for her situation. Lily and (her father) Neil are just about two of the only characters who are just nice people -- they are really honorable.”

A short while back, Lily miscarried her and Cane’s baby, which changed the way Lily viewed the world. “It matured her a lot,” Christel explains. “It made her strong, and she has a greater respect for life. It was very hard on her. It was strange, the way it all happened. She was starting to like the idea of having a baby -- she related what was going on to her mother; she wanted to be just as strong and as good of a mother as her own mother was.”

Now that there is another baby in Lily’s life -- Cane and Chloe’s -- Lily’s good character has come shining through. “Lily really cares about the baby; it doesn’t matter to her that it is in Chloe’s belly. Lily loves Cane, so she loves his baby as well. The baby comes first. Lily will always do what is best for the baby.”

But underneath that strong facade, Lily is struggling. “What makes this whole situation even harder for her,” Christel says, “is that she is supposed to be OK with the whole situation. Lily is the one who told Cane that he needs to be with Chloe, so she HAS to be OK with how things are turning out.”

Even with another woman’s baby in the picture, can Cane and Lily still have their happy ending? “I definitely think that’s a possibility. It’s not like it hasn’t been done before. She definitely can see the hope, and they can adapt and love each other in a more mature and honest way.”

After all this baby mess is over, what does Christel hope for when it comes to Lily’s future? Christel says: “She’s portrayed as smart and intelligent, but we never see it reflected in her business life. I want to see Lily become a lot like her mom -- strong, maybe a CEO or a business owner. She could open her own modeling agency and be a mentor.”

Sharon Case knew going in that it would be difficult for Jack, Sharon, Nick and Phyllis to all play nice when they decided to start a magazine together. Sharon Case, who has played Sharon Abbott on “The Young and the Restless” since 1994, says that’s all part of the fun for her as an actress. “That’s what we’re hoping for, is conflict. You put these characters together in situations they normally wouldn’t be in together, and it’s fun to see what happens.”

The two couples didn’t go into this blind: They knew they were going to have their troubles working together, but as Sharon tells me: “They were hoping for the best with the conflicts they knew existed. But those conflicts didn’t outweigh the idea of creating the magazine. They can see the positive points of their partnership, even though Sharon and Phyllis do not get along. Sharon looks forward to spending time with Nick and with Jack.”

Eventually, though, someone is going to have to come out on top. And Sharon says when that time comes, there will be fireworks. “There are lots of conflicts coming up -- not only between Sharon and Phyllis, but also between Nick and Jack, and even Sharon and Jack.”

The Sharon and Jack conflict could have something to do with Jack’s need for vengeance. Nick and Phyllis just wrote an unflattering article, into which Phyllis injected some juicy tidbits about Sharon (unbeknownst to Nick). When Jack and Sharon find out, the claws will come out.

“Obviously, Sharon and Jack don’t like the article,” Sharon explains. “Jack retaliates by doing another interview. Sharon doesn’t want to keep going back and forth, especially using the magazine for personal vendettas. She just wants it to stop.”

Many fans of “Y&R” have a distinct opinion about the couples. There is a large contingency who want Phyllis and Jack back together, and want Sharon with Nick again. Sharon is flattered when she hears about the passion the show’s fans feel for the characters.

“I’m glad there are those who feel that way. If there weren’t, then they wouldn’t care so much about the current story line. The conflict wouldn’t be there, and no one would want to watch.

“I also think this is something that we all can relate to: being with one person that you love, and longing to be with another who you’ve loved longer and who really is your soul mate. It’s a tragic love story.”

But that is not to say that Sharon doesn’t love Jack. “She stays with Jack because she does love him -- that’s the bottom line. She could have gone with Brad; she could have gone it alone. He picked her up out of the low place she was at after her marriage broke up. Sharon sees Jack as a great security to her and Noah.”

Because of Noah, Nick will always have a place in her life. “Nick and Sharon really are soul mates. She never wanted her marriage to end; she never stopped caring. She never stopped loving him; it was circumstance that caused them to part.”

Everything that Sharon has gone through has helped her to grow into the woman she is now. “I’m glad she went through all that she has,” Sharon says. “She has matured and changed. It has been really fun to see her morph and change with the years.”

In the years to come, Sharon Case will still be excited to play her alter ego. “I try to keep her interesting even when she’s not in a front-burner story line. I’m just so glad the writers have written me so many great stories over the years, and have made Sharon who she is today.”

Robin must make a painful decision about her father's future when Robert goes under the knife. Meanwhile, Leo and Saira team up to save a patient, Jagger joins an autism support group and Claire butts heads with a former schoolmate on General Hospital: Night Shift TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 2 (11:00 p.m. – 12:00 a.m., ET/PT) on SOAPnet.